Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Moby Dick

This, via Ross Douthat, is truly terrifying:

"The writers revere Melville's original text, but their graphic novel-style version will change the structure. Gone is the first-person narration by the young seaman Ishmael, who observes how Ahab's obsession with killing the great white whale overwhelms his good judgment as captain.

This change will allow them to depict the whale's decimation of other ships prior to its encounter with Ahab's Pequod, and Ahab will be depicted more as a charismatic leader than a brooding obsessive.

"Our vision isn't your grandfather's 'Moby Dick,' " Cooper said. "This is an opportunity to take a timeless classic and capitalize on the advances in visual effects to tell what at its core is an action-adventure revenge story.""

4 comments:

Meg said...

But... but... if the revenge is admirable rather than destructive it completely changes the point of the book! Wha...?

I do not understand moviemakers.

Jackart said...

And it loses the Greatest incepit of American Literature...

"Call me Ishmael..."

A travesty.

JuliaM said...

Liked the comment over at the original 'Ain't It Cool News' article: 'Jason Statham for Ahab!'

Guillaume said...

Dreadful. If they don't care about the source material and its relevance, why bother adapting?